Laughing with Rocky

It’s Really Windy….What Happened to my Goats?

What happened to my goats?  They are really rambunctious.  Sunshine, the young little one with the horns, is causing me and Rocky, the big one, to be a bit nervous.  He is swinging his head around while jumping and we have to be careful.  We all want to run now. Their energy is erratic.  They are full of Piss and Vinegar and I didn’t give them either of those, THE WIND DID.  

The wind affects the goats’ moods.  Be careful.  Can you run with them?  They need to disperse some of their wildness. When it is windy, the goats have more energy. It is like they catch the energy in the air and play with it.  In fact, it happens to me, too.  Sometimes my knees don’t want me to run at all, but when it is windy, all heaven breaks loose and the three of us throw our cares to the wind and start running.  Running with the goats always happens on a really windy day.  I can predict their behavior from the weather report.  If the wind is extra energetic, the goats will be, too.  But, the fact that it also affects me, shows that the more you spend time with your goats, the more goatish you become.  (more on becoming Goatish on an upcoming blog….)

Piss and Vinegar happens.  Sunshine does not like for me to say “no” to anything that is related to food.  There is a tree on the ranch that is mysterious for me.  I don’t know what it is and so I don’t want the goats to eat it.  I usually am able to pull Sunshine away and tell him “no” until he listens.  But, when it is a windy day and we are on a food related issue, he realizes all too quickly that he can use his horns.  Be careful.   You have to be firm at these times.   You can choose to be wise as well.   Wise means that you get the tree checked out by bringing some leaves and blossoms to an arborist at a good nursery to find out its name and then checking the internet for lists on what goats should not eat.  If the mystery tree is on the safe list, then you don’t have the difficult task of pulling a goat on the loose away from his munchies.   Food is a serious matter to foodies.  The word “foodie” was created with goats in mind.  

Sunshine and Rocky are a lot more mellow on a calm day without any wind.  But on this windy day, they competed for dominance every chance they could get, their tales wagging with the fun of competition.   Since Rocky’s horns were removed, unfortunately, I didn’t want the Piss and Vinegar that the extra wind added to Sunshine to overwhelm Rocky.  I took off running and, of course, they follow enthusiastically, interrupting any game of dominance.  Off we go, wind pushing us from behind, all three of us running free but in the same direction…until…another food opportunity arises. Quickly, get to that tree bark before the wind blows it away.   Frantically, the wind comes and we are off running again.

This happens every time it is windy.  Piss and Vinegar in the goats’ mood can show up like a new salad dressing eager to enhance my day.  Just keep running until some of the energy is released.  Rocky stops to rest with his tongue hanging out of his mouth. I stop to sit next to him while he stands on a bench.  Of course, since he is taller than my sitting stance, what a great opportunity to try to eat my hat.  Never a dull moment.  Being with goats is a great way to learn to just be in the present moment, especially if it is windy.  You must be aware of every detail all around you all at once.   Too much energy?  Then run again and keep running, letting the wind’s energy dictate the direction.   After that, we are too revved up to sit on the ground and cuddle once we are back in their enclosure again.   I brush them and play tete a tete with Rocky until it is time for me to resume the rest of my day that is actually not with the goats.  Although blogging about goats brings them into my space again and before I know it my life has been invaded by the hooved kind.   I close my eyes to sleep once again, my pupils, I swear, turn horizontal once I close my lids.  Don’t tell anyone…. 

Rocky, the Most Picky Goat on Earth

Many people falsely believe that goats eat anything.  This could not be further from the truth.  I have even heard one person say they saw a goat try to eat a tin can.   They were not trying to eat the metal, most likely it had paper on it and the goat was attempting to pry off the fibrous content.

However, if it were my goat, Rocky, he might have been trying to read the label.  Picky!   In fact, I think I might be sharing the planet with the pickiest goat of them all.   I have brought numerous cut up vegetables and fruits only to see the younger goat, Sunshine, have to eat all of them.  Rocky had smelled them all, chewed up some and spit them out.  He looked at me almost frantically, "Where is my food?"  Of course, he did get his hay, so he was not starved, but I really wanted him to eat the treats I brought that were organic and packed with vitamins and minerals.  Don't worry, I give them loose minerals which they get to lick out of my hand: one goat per hand, I have two hands and two goats, so can do!   But, still everyday, the verdict of whether or whether not this wether will eat my cut up treats is up to the wind.   Although, I am getting smarter in my approach to serving this picky goat.

They don't like cut up vegetable or fruit treats that are wet. They must be dry. If they fall on the ground, they are out of bounds, literally.  I have to pick them up, wash the sand off and then I must dry them with my shirt.  Then they get a second chance to become an eaten treat.  Sunshine is not as picky. Although, recently I have watched him learn from Rocky to reject pieces of my treats.  Mind you, these are organic (don't want pesticides and chemical fertilizers in my goat's blood.  Remember these are my sons!) and fresh.  They will positively not eat anything going slightly bad.  Even if I might munch on a salad with a few "almost" pieces that have only hours left of their nutritious life left; they are much more pickier than I am.  But, I don't have a four chambered stomach with a rumen, precious bacteria that digest the raw vegan food.  (nor do I chew my cud, but I become more goat-like as I spend more years with goats.)

Goats seem to protect their rumen.  The goats smell and inspect food carefully.  I believe in this way they protect their rumen and their health.   But, they don't always know what is best for themselves. Make sure they do not overeat.  A wether (a male castrated goat) should never eat alfalfa nor grains. The pH in those foods throw their systems off and can cause sickness in various ways.  If you have other animals on your farm, make sure their food is kept well away from goats.

When the goats lived at a horse ranch, there was an open barn that had food in it that was bad for goats.  I could not leave the goats unattended for long, but they learned.  They used to go into the barn and eat what they wanted when my back was turned for a half-second.  (the ranch they stayed at during that time didn't allow a door to be put on the barn so I had to be really careful)  Even if I pulled them by their collars, they found a way back in.  I soon gained control of the situation by creating loud sounds by banging the metal tops of trash cans that contained pellets with grains and alfalfa for older horses. The lids made wonderful crashing sounds that scared the goats away. After a few times, the goats learned to stay away from the open barn.  But, I still made sure I knew where they were while I was cleaning, like a mom who must watch her brood while she tends house. But, when we foraged, we foraged together, so they usually were not too far away from me as the herd usually stays with its herd members.   Be careful!!  They must be watched carefully.  When they were living at that ranch, trash could be found laying anywhere blown in from the wind.   Many times you could find me screaming, yelling and running as fast as I could to pull a plastic bag from one of my goat's mouth.  This was a serious situation.  If you live near an area where wind can blow trash onto the land, you must be on your toes at all times and ready to take action as fast as possible.  A goat can choke on human trash.

Rocky is not picky when it comes to eating plastic bags, so I hold on tightly when I let him lick the sticky mango pulp left on it.  But, when it comes to vegetables and fruits I have learned a lot.   If the vegetables and fruit have been in the fridge and are too cold, a picky goat may not like the temperature.  If they are too hot, they may not like that either.  They may not like them wet or if fallen on ground.  They may not like them here, but might like them there. Yes, that is right!  I discovered that often times when we walk a bit after he has rejected my cut up organic carrots, he might eat them later at a different location when he gets a treat for playing a jumping game.  (I have to make up games because they can get bored too easily)  Yes, you read correctly.  The same rejected fruit or vegetable may be redeemed later at a different location.  Perhaps the temperature of the food changed.  He often became less picky when the treats were given because of a physical action that he enjoyed.  It was if his attention was diverted from the taste a bit.   Maybe he suspended his picky behavior for the moment because he knew that he had already eaten all of the banana peels and had to settle for mere carrots. Who knows.   Just know that if you have a picky goat, do not give up on giving treats, just change them, keep them organic, make sure they are not too hot, not too cold, and given at the absolute right time.  There is a definite method to this madness.   One thing is for sure, if you bite off one end of something and expect a picky goat to eat it, don't take it personal, but your saliva just ruined it for them.  The rumen apparently does not do well with food tainted with human saliva.   I am a vegan, so I have been able to bite off pieces of apple and he would eat it, but, again, not always.   Don't take it personal if a goat is offended by your saliva.

One other thing, if you cut your treats on a cutting board, don't share that board with onions or garlic, etc.  Your goat may not like his banana tasting like an onion.  

If you think my life has gone bananas from all of this goatish paranoia, it has.   I have become an overprotective, overly-attached mama goat whose pupils are moving toward the horizontal line.  

Affection, Hooves, Memories and Good Vibes

It is important to keep goats social.  It is also a basic need for them to be pet and cuddled.  If you plan on having goats as loving companions, make sure you have plenty of time to massage them, brush them, pet them, play with them.  The require this. 

Each goat has a unique personality and will let you know what they like and what they dislike.  Be careful.  A swing of the head means a loud “NO.”   Immediately stop what you are doing.  They are communicating that they don’t want you to touch them in that place or in that way.  You don’t need more than one warning.  Once is enough.  Don’t push your limits.  Don’t take it personally either.   This is just a goats way to communicate.  Some goats are more picky on how they like be touched more than others.  Often, if you get a goat that has a history, you don’t know what type of experience they had before you met them.   Remember, their memories are way better than yours.  Perhaps a goat had its hooves trimmed in a rough manner or by someone they didn’t like.  They may not let you touch their hooves if they have that type of memory.  Don’t keep trying to do something if they show you that the area has a bad memory associated with it. 

I can pet my little goat’s hooves because he has not had them trimmed yet.   He may not need them trimmed if the rocks that he walks on files them down for him.  The bigger one disliked the person who trimmed his hooves in the past.   He only lets me touch them if he is trying to scratch in between them and is okay with me helping him.  He is sometimes fine with me touching the front ones, but not the back ones.  I get a swing of his head letting me know I am in territory that I should not be in.   He has memory there.  He doesn’t want anything to be repeated that he didn’t like.   I am watching his hooves and taking him to places to walk on rocks so that they can get filed down naturally.   If they get too long and the rocks are not filing them down enough, they will have to be trimmed.  But, his past memory of having his hooves trimmed was not good so that is not something I want to do myself.   Hopefully the rocks will file them down enough.  

My goats don’t like to be around rough people and so they are picky about who touches them.   Be mindful to this.   If they need hoof trimming and the rocks are not doing it, then learn to trim them or hire someone who is gentle and kind.   There are people out there who treat goats that are not pet goats.  They may be rough and unkind.  You don’t want your pet goats around that type of person, it can cause them bad memories.

There is someone that my older goat does not like who used to trim his hooves.  Whenever he showed up on the ranch, my goat saw him and stopped walking and went the other way.   I always support my goat’s feelings.  I give him respect and that is one of the reasons why we have such a great relationship.  If he has a strong feeling about someone or something, I listen to him.  Clearly that was not the right person to trim his hooves.   There is no reason to be rough with a goat.  Don’t hire someone unless they are kind and gentle.  Don’t give your goat bad memories by subjecting them to harsh people.   They need affection and love, just like anyone else.   I make sure that only affectionate and loving people go near my goats.  They also have to be peaceful people.   I am very choosy and you should be, too.  

Scat scooper

For those of us that live in fairly dry climates that can use a goat scat scooper, let me fill you in on the scoop.  First of all, the word "scat" means feces. Some people use the word "poo," but that brings to mind Winnie the Pooh and why place him in such a low state.  Some also use the word "poop," however, when I was younger, "poop" referred to flatulence and not feces.  (this is similar to the current vernacular of the word "thong" which is now the name for woman's underwear that are a narrow cover as thin as a pipe cleaner.  But, in my youth, it referred to the current flip-flop.)

It is important to keep the ground underneath your goat's feet similar to how it would be if they were out roaming and foraging before domestication.  Sometimes that was soft sand, sometimes it was hardened clay or soil, sometimes it was rocks, etc.  But, it was never just rock only, so you cannot have a very hard surface because, overtime, this is not good for a goat's joints.   I have seen many people clean the goat's enclosure. They often pick up the scat but also all of the top soil and throw it all away. What is left is a hard surface.  After other people had cleaned my goat's enclosure, I often had to refill it with top sand to protect their joints.

In the past, I saw a scat scooper at a petting zoo and built one similar in concept.  If the scat scooper has a screen at the bottom, then you can shake the good sand or dry soil out of the scooper and return this important soft earth back to the enclosure.   The one that I made myself is extremely makeshift. It is also a bit flimsy so I was the only one that could use it because I knew one rough tug and it could have come apart.  But, for me, voila, it did the trick; no more sand/dry soil in the wheel barrel.

I knew I needed a newer model so that I was not the only one who could clean the goats' enclosure effectively.  I had a new, improved model made, but those of you who are savvy with tools could do this yourself.

The flimsy one I made by myself consists of a small plastic trash can, a screen used for an air con filter, a toilet plunger, duct tape, double sided tape, and crossed fingers that is comes out alright.  In the photo, it has some bolts because I had a handy man retrofit it.  But, my makeshift scat scooper held up just fine as long as it wasn't left in the rain or around people who are rough at the edges - or left for the goats to chew on the duct tape - another problem if you allow another to use your makeshift scooper.  Don't assume that others know goat behavior!!!!

The newer model consists of a scooper that comes with a broom bought from a construction supply house.  That is a necessary part: a broom to sweep up the scat.  We cut the thicker plastic bottom out of it and replaced that with heavy duty screen.  It is important that the screen you buy is the right size. You don't want it like a window screen because that will not allow you to sift out the soil or sand.  If the screen is too large, the small pieces of goat scat will just fall through the holes.  Think raisinettes, you want to keep those and shake out the finer sand/soil.  I simply shake the scooper often enough which shakes the sand/soil through the screen located at the bottom.  I then dump the "raisinettes" into a wheel barrel often so that the scooper doesn't get weighted down.  If you shake and dump often, it will make sure that sand/soil has plenty of contact with the screen to fall through the holes and get added back to the ground of the enclosure.  This may sound elementary and obvious to you, but I have seen many people try to clean my goats' enclosure and fail miserably, ending up with a very heavy wheel barrel full of sand/soil and a hard surface left for the goats.  Since my way ensures that you end up with goat scat in a wheel barrel and just a small bit of hay, you are now able to use this clean, non-scented, wonderful scat for your organic garden.   A word to the wise:  always notice the consistency of your goat's scat.  It should not be clumpy, but a loose stream of raisinettes.  If you notice clumps of "raisinettes" stuck together, keep noticing.  Sometimes this just happens from time to time, but if it is often enough, consult a vet.  Also, notice their urine; make sure they "pee" (now that is a word that, thankfully, has not changed over many years) without any pain.  If they are in pain when they pee and are looking at their bladder and moaning, you might just be giving your wether
alfalfa or alfalfa pellets or grain, or he may be stealing it from your horses if you have any of those.  

Here are the photos of the old model and the newer model.  If you want to purchase the new model through me, send me an email through my website www.EmpireOfTheSunspirit.com  

New model

old scooper above

Reinstate the ban on Foie Gras

Why is this on a blog about goats?  Because once you are part of the herd, you are always part of the herd.  Geese and Ducks are part of our herd.  They share the same causes we share.  They share the desire with all animals for freedom for those that are oppressed, tortured, suffering and needing to be rescued.   Not all animals share horrible predicaments, but they do share the desire for all of their families, cousins, brothers and sisters, friends, neighbors and fellow compatriots to have a good life.  So, on this blog, if there is need for the goat’s brethren to improve their lot, then it will be written here for others to add light to their cause.  

Please join me in this energy intensive to help the geese and ducks on the planet. In California, on Friday, February 6, 2015, the attorney general Kamala Harris is appealing the federal judge’s decision to overturn the ban on foie gras.  But, this is just one case, and only concerns the ban in California.  There are countless animals that have a horrid fate.  Foie Gras is goose or liver pate that involves force feeding the birds many times a day so that their liver gets to be ten times the size it normally would be.  From the stress, they pluck out their own feathers.  When their livers burst they kill them to create foie gras, liver pate.  Many consider this a delicacy and love it even though they know it involves cruelty.  But, all animals that people eat or use for clothing or entertainment, or for scientific experiments, etc. succumb to horrible fates at the hands of humans.  Face it, most humans don’t even care about themselves let alone innocent animals.  However, those of us on this planet now that have chosen to be here for the purpose of elevating it, have a huge responsibility.  We need to help change the predicament of these animals that beg for a better fate, but need our voice.

This is an energy intensive that will benefit all animals that need our help now.  Please allow yourself to participate if you can gather up intense energy and share this experience as a group.  Try to collect as much intense energy as you can for this intensive.  If you need help to engage your feelings, look at the photos above.  

Close your eyes.  Take a number of deep breaths.  Begin to access a deeper part of yourself that has no boundaries, but is lucid.  Go directly to the core of your being.  Feel the love of the animals.  See them all in your mind’s eye.  Apologize to them if you need to.  If you have eaten them in the past, if you have used them for clothing or accessories, if you have visited zoos or circuses or other entertainment establishments and have supported their enslavement to humans, if you have used products that involve horrible scientific experiments on them, etc., apologize to them.  If you were ever mean or cruel to an animal, either directly or indirectly, allowing someone else to do the dirty work for you, apologize to them now.  Tell them that you have seen what you have done and are ready to change it all now.  Go deeper still to your feelings and to the truth about your own life.  Go to the place where you have been living a lie, a place where you are in denial about your life.  Feel the reality of what you have hidden about your own life.  Focus acutely on the areas of your life that beckon you to change.  Feel deeply the areas in your life where you feel caged, where you feel unfree or oppressed or suppressed.  Perhaps you feel agony in some area.  Feel that.  Feel that deeply and intensely.  Now it is time for you to change. It is time for you to get free in your own life, for you to make changes.  So, too, see this happening in the animal world.  What has been hidden inside of you that creates miserable pain is reflected on the outside when you see the truth about what happens to animals.  You cannot change the outside world unless you participate and change your own life as well.  We are all part of the same whole.  Free yourself as you desire freedom for the animals as well.  See it as one continuum, one world seeking change to an uplifted, improved version.  You must be the change you want to see in the world, as Gandhi said.  

Free yourself and see the animals free as well.  Take care of yourself deeply and see the animals being taken care of.   See, for example, the cows of this world out of the slaughterhouses and living in lovely sanctuaries with beautiful and spacious land.  See them happy, see yourself happy.  Change your world, change their world.  Get free yourself as you do whatever you can to help them get free as well.   We are all in this together.  Let go of your denials about your own life and set yourself free.  Then, when you make your efforts for the animals, they will be affective.  You will have faced your own dungeons and so will understand what animals feel and will deepen your commitment to create change in their lives because you will have done so in your own life.   They are part of you.  Get free alongside the animals.  We all do this together to create a world that is harmonious and beautiful, full of enriched lives that share with each other the benefits of what it is to really love.   

Should Goats Be Kept with Horses?

Many people think that goats are great for horses.  In fact, I have heard that horse owners use goats to calm horses.  In my very first blog entree, I mentioned that I don't believe that animals should be used for anything besides giving and receiving love and healing.  I don't believe in getting an animal for the use of another. If it is for possible friendship, then that could be mutually beneficial.  However, let us examine this further....

There is no one size fits all with anything when it comes to animals.   It is a good lesson to not believe what other people tell you, even if many people believe the same thing.  Our own personal experiences can tell us something totally different than what the masses believe.  

Rocky and Sunshine are both wethers.   This means they are male castrated goats.  If there is a health issue concerning a goat, the first thing a good vet asks is about their diet.  They want you to tell them everything they are eating.  Many horses eat alfalfa in pellet form and/or grass/hay form.  Wethers can get bladder stones and die from too much alfalfa.   Some people will tell you otherwise.  They will tell you there goats eat alfalfa with no problem. Many blogs will say the same thing.  Here is the same lesson about not believing what others say unless you really check the source.  I have asked a number of good vets and they all say the same thing about alfalfa.  I have also talked to a vet that treated goats that people killed for meat who didn't know about alfalfa and wethers. Obviously, this type of vet may not have experience with goats that are going to be living that long anyway. Be careful.   I have asked university professors who teach about goats, they also do not recommend alfalfa for wethers.  Make sure you do your research from top notch sources.  The World Wide Web is full of contradictions when it comes to goats.  

Try keeping a goat away from a horses' food.  Lots of luck.  They are foodies.  There are other ingredients that are also not good for a goat.  A goat doesn't need oil, vinegar, horse minerals, and grain.  Grain can also cause bladder stones in wethers.  Some horses get this in their feed during certain parts of the week or day.  So, obviously you can understand the hazards of having these two different types of animals together.

Another important factor is that some horses are unpredictable.  They are also very big.  They can get a horse fly on them and run around like a mad person.   Or, some can just be moody.  Sunshine is small; he can easily go into a horse's pen.  As a foodie, he is only concerned about what he can find to nibble on.   I have seen him get chased out by a huge horse that had been calm just the moment before.  The little goat came running out of the stall, but might go back in another day, not remembering the horse's unpredictability.  

Sometimes, goats are not safe for some horses.  I have heard about someone putting barbie doll heads on the ends of a goat's horns in case they have reason to butt a horse.  I have also heard of tennis balls with a hole cut out also for this purpose.  My goats only butt if it is really necessary, but I have heard of other goats that butt if a horse gets too close to them, especially if the goat is busy eating.  It is important to understand these possibilities before just blindly believing what others tell you.

I am sure some people have had really good experiences with their goat and horse living together, but it is not a one-size-fits-all concept.   It depends on the horse, the goat, the feed, the size of the stall, whether they share the same space or not, etc.

The main lesson here is to really do your research before you just believe something.  Reading a number of blogs does not mean you are researching important information.  It just means you are gathering stories from different people's experiences.  Talking to a number of good vets as well as information put out by university professors is a trustworthy source. But, make sure those vets and professors are from modern times.   New scientific information comes out that is totally opposite from facts that were believed many years ago.  I have also used information from different goat associations, but I still had to check those sources.

In short, do your homework and know what you are getting into.  There are different types of goats that might respond differently to horses, and vice versa.   You might be wondering why the goats I care for are around horses.  It is because they were rescued by an organization that rescues horses.  It is my goal to buy goat zoned property so that these goats can live in an environment that is completely designed for goats only.

Tribute to Patches

This is for Patches who passed just shortly before his 16^th birthday

My Patches

1998- 2014

Now I know why they call it Animal Husbandry

It was a platonic marriage, an inter-species relationship

The best one ever, with anyone

He was a gentle Pisces, born March 3^rd

Wise and Compassionate

Like no other being I have ever met

I sat in front of him on my pillow

As if he was a Buddhist deity

And I did feel enlightened by his presence

But only during the hours each week, each day, 
for the four years that I spent with him.

He put his head on my heart

The moment I bent low 
to sit on the ground with him

His love poured into my broken pieces

As I sat in front of a God in the form of a Goat.

He shaped my world, gave me purpose,

A reason to be and a place to go

And when I left the petting zoo for ten minutes to get more water in the sweltering heat

He was so eager to see me come back,

Swaying and extending his head to tell me to come and sit in front of him again.

Whatever I missed from the human world, he gave to me

Whatever love I lacked from my own species, I found in him.

He was my savior

I could not wait to see him

To place my pillow in front of him

to sit with my own personal goat guru.

I knew why I had existed,

why I was drawn 
to move to that town

And my life was made whole

because a Goat Graced it.

He is gone from this world now

It has a strange air without him

I would have visited him
till I died.

My celibate goat monk

Pure in his love.

When I spoke to visitors too long

He pulled my shirt with his mouth to tell me

To only pay attention to him.

And I did.

He is the goat in my center

Looking out through my eyes

My pupils turn horizontal

As I remain forever part of the herd. 

WELCOME TO LARA DE ANN MAMA GOAT BLOG

I have two goats that I take care of, or rather they take care of me.  Rocky is about 5 years old and Sunshine is about 10 months old.  Time certainly flies and you can certainly see that when you notice how fast a kid goat grows. He still loves to be picked up, but now I am going to have to do weight training in order to continue to lift him.  He gets so excited to get a higher view.

Rocky and Sunshine are both wethers, castrated male goats.  This blog post reflects my direct experience with these goats and what I have learned to do and not to do.  There is always more to learning.  These pages are based on my opinions and experience.  You will notice that there is so much information on the web regarding goats and so much contradiction.  I will tell you what I have learned so that you can benefit, but be prepared to see very opposite views on other blogs.

Since I am a strict vegan for animals sake, this blog is not about how to get anything out of a goat.  I am also not one to offer any medical advice.  This is simply my way of sharing the wonders of the goat world and what I have discovered that might help others along the way.

Meet my goats:  Rocky and Sunshine  (they took Rocky's horns off at an early age. I will talk about that on another blog post.)

Rocky and Sunshine came to my life at different times, but both of them needed a mom, so I became Mama Goat.   Rocky's mom got out of their enclosure and was chased by dogs, had a heart attack and died.  Sunshine was rejected by his mom and the herd.  Though Rocky bullies Sunshine often and they compete for dominance, they also play, love each other and give one another great companionship.  Since they are herd animals, they love to be with each other.
However, if you don't have a second goat for company, many other animals work well for companionship.  If you have enough time, you can keep a goat around you full time and then you become the other herd mate.  If you do not

     have that kind of time to devote to a goat as a            herd member, then the right companion is                  crucial.  I've met someone recently whose goat is      paired up with a spirited goose.  I've heard of            ones with small dogs (who were used to being          with the goat from a young age).  I've seen them        with sheep, llamas, pigs etc.  My preference is to      have them with animals that you know for sure          are kind and won't turn on the goat.  Someone            wanted to put their goats with their pit bull.  They      nearly lost the goats to the dog that was out for          blood.   Be very careful, many dog lovers will            assure you that their dog is the most loving,              gentle creature on the face of this earth.                      However, in the presence of a goat who is a prey      animal, a dog, who is a predator, may act                  totally different than how they do with humans.        Some dog breeds that are normally docile, will          turn on anyone without notice. An innocent golden retriever mauled a human baby and created terrible trauma for years.  Bottom line, either you change your life and center it around the goat becoming its main companion, or find an animal, or preferably another compatible goat, that befriends your goat lovingly.  Remember, these are herd animals so, the more time you spend with them, the more you become part of the herd